


Bloodlines

by ainamclane



Series: Universe 4 [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7661302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainamclane/pseuds/ainamclane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q's next task... but will the newly bonded play along?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bloodlines

**Author's Note:**

> this is belonging into the same universe of Stargate Atlantis where Ancients were the origin of Sentinels and Guides but over time were dying out. But you don’t need to have read that part to understand this.  
> Ace!Spock hinted.

Kirk was tiredly rubbing a hand over his face and looked around the quarters. He put his feet on the ground and winced when the cool surface of the metal alloy felt cooler than it normally did.

The blanket that he pushed away felt like sandpaper and he grimaced when the sound of skin upon blanket made a similar one to nails on a chalkboard, similar to polishing your nails. He felt the goosebumps spread out over his skin and sighed.

Something was terribly wrong this morning and he needed to figure out what.

Taking a clean uniform from the closet, he winced briefly when the yellow-green of his shirt blinded him and he wondered yet again who had decided on those colors anyways. Couldn’t they just have Captain Archer’s uniforms instead? They looked comfortable, practical with all their pockets and more reliable on away missions.

Heading into the bathroom, splashing some water into his face, Jim took the ultrasonic brush and cleaned his teeth. He frowned when the flavor of mint was penetrating his senses and the sharp bite of said mint coated his tongue. He nearly spat it back out because it hurt.

A dull thud made him look up but of course he couldn’t see whatever it was that made the sound. With a frown, he turned to swipe at the sensor to turn off the lights but startled when he realized he didn’t have it turned on to begin with. The only light that was coming in was that from the reflection of the Earth outside his window in the docking station.

Walking back into his main room and taking his shoes, Jim left for Bones’ domain on the ship. Even while the ship was undergoing repairs, they were mostly there to learn their ways around the newer technologies that were worked in and to evaluate the data they had gathered previously.

“Bones?” Jim called out, pinching his eyes close as a result of the harsh light from the hallway, the intercom on the door was relaying his voice and Jim rested his forehead against the cool surface next to the door, wincing from the headache he had going on.

The door swooshed open and Jim winced again. He barely looked at the other man and indicated his head. Bones was right next to him a second later, supporting him: “Jim?”

“Everything hurts,” he replied and winced: “Everything is too bright or loud...”

Bones paled skin was all the information needed. It was also a huge relieve that the other man knew what it meant: “You know about this?”

“I do,” Bones replied and quickly dragged him along to the sickbay: “I need to make some tests but I’m fairly sure where I went wrong.”

“You went wrong? With what?” Jim asked and ignored the looks of the crew. He waved them off and Bones muttered back that once again Jim had reacted badly to some medicine.

Which should have been the clue. At least that was what Bones mumbled low enough that no one should have been able to hear it but Jim did.

Not getting a further information, Jim was pretty carefully dumped on the biobeds and Bones was over him, making tests and drawing blood. The pain from the needle was nearly too much but a soothing hand from McCoy on his hand was keeping him strangely balanced.

Leonard was quickly checking something on a terminal and then went to one of his drawers to get out some random medicine that he placed into a hypospray. A second later, Jim felt mellow and relaxed, surprisingly with no ill side-effects this time around.

He still registered McCoy tinkering about and also felt more than saw Spock come in to get an update on Jim’s condition. The words Sentinel and Sandburg registered with Jim but the other man barely took it in while at the same time registering and knowing what it was.

When he next woke up, the light was dull and Bones came walking over carefully: “Jim?” it was a whisper and the Captain was very thankful that his friend was careful enough to not speak too loudly.

“I’m okay Bones. Care to tell me what’s wrong this time?” the man asked and sat up straight.

Bones took a chair and looked at him with uncertain eyes: “Well, remember when we were taught in school about Sentinel and Guides?” with dread tightening up his stomach, Jim nodded: “Well, it seems that your family dates back to Sandburg.”

“What? That Blair Sandburg? The one that wrote all the books about Sentinels and Guides?” Kirk asked with surprise.

“That would be the one, yes. Seems like genetically, you’re a descendant from his father. While it wasn’t known who his father was, genetically, you’re the same family line,” Bones explained: “Which is interesting because you are a Sentinel. Which is a reason why every single shot of medicine I ever gave you reacted strangely with your immune system. I’m terribly sorry that I never thought to test you for the Sentinel and Guide gene.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jim replied quickly: “So, what now? Do we talk to Reed and Tucker?”

Leonard shrugged: “While it is known they are the last known pair; I wouldn’t bother them just yet unless you really have no other choice. Furthermore, as long as you are unbonded, all we can do is help you to remain as stable as possible. For that reason, I would also advice Spock to be read in on your condition so that he can help you out.”

“Meditation is also a part of it, right?” Jim sighed: “What are the odds for me to find my Guide?”

Sighing, Bones took Jim’s hand in his: “What do you feel?”

“Calm? Relaxed?” Jim asked and the second Bones took his hand away, he felt worry, anxiety of his senses and an onslaught of noises, smells and hurtful light come in: “It’s worse now.”

“I’m a Guide, Jim,” Bones admitted: “Also a reason why I pretend not to like Spock because my mental shields fail when I’m around him and make me get the full blast of the whole ship.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jim asked with hurt in his voice but then a second later he understood why and what was actually going on. The Starfleet had made it clear that any emerging Sentinel and Guide would be at their beg and call. 

Bones realized that Jim had concluded something as he was nodding to himself: “You wouldn’t tell anyone either. I also think that your recent excursion to that planet and the ice brought forth your Sentinel abilities.”

“That could be true,” Kirk added: “I’ve felt strange ever since but not like this morning.”

“I believe I would have noticed something if you had. Now the question is, are you willing to bond with me?” Bones asked and knew already that they were compatible.

Jim was about to reply when Bones’ shields suddenly wavered and then fell. Surprised, Jim felt the whole that was Bones and how attractive that made him as a Guide.

A second later, the door opened and Spock came in yet again. Bones sighed and the calm mental mind of Spock was also affecting Kirk now that he had an empathic ability, limited as it was. They all three suddenly looked at one another and Spock was surprised: “Well, my mental shields never failed like that.”

“Not that it is much of a difference,” Jim replied: “you’re calm enough not to startle me.”

“That and Dr McCoy finally shows that he is a Guide as much as I am,” Spock replied: “My Vulcan heritage simply protected me more and made it easier to hide what I was. No one would suspect me.”

They fell silent and suddenly Jim voiced it: “So, are we three compatible?”

**

While Jim found both men attractive enough to take them to bed, their bonding was strictly ritual and more on the empathic side of things. He was fine with this, not being dropped into a threeway relationship form one day to the next while he still had the security of their bond and the possibility that they could end in a relationship once the three of them got used to the whole idea.

Jim’s imprint of his senses was awkward enough for now and while he did smell pretty much every inch of his Guides, he didn’t touch every dip and curve much less lick some areas. It was torture enough that Bones was highly amused about the fact while Spock felt rather uncomfortable about being touched but understood the necessity of the situation and kept them all calm.

The mental bond was already amazing. He could read both men without having to talk about a topic, he could feel what they felt and even if Spock was mostly trying to not show his emotions, he was feeling them as any human, he could just deal with it better.

“We need to get information about this bond,” Spock said and looked from one to the other while they were still sitting together, enjoying the company of the other. Their mental imprint had already changed them in a way they were seeing things around them and each other. A feeling of calmness was settling into their bones and making them comfortable.

Jim sighed: “We need to hack the database or hit the ancient books. We might get access to them but therefore we would need to tell Reed and Tucker.”

“The Vulkan got a complete library from Earth when we first established contact. I may have easier access to that information than you do.” Spock said and watched as Bones reached out to Jim when the other man’s sense of hearing was spiking: “Jim?”

“Sorry, Chekov just said something and it caught my attention,” he said: “Shouldn’t I be of better control now?”

“Not necessarily. Your senses are still new and we give you the stability not to zone as quickly and probably expand your senses. We won’t ever know now because we bonded so soon.” Bones said: “Since Sentinel and Guides are rare, we should definitely not tell anyone but Reed and Tucker.”

“Might not hurt but no one else can ever know. Maybe we’re lucky enough to get overlooked but can push for a change of the law?” Jim asked: “Anyways, we need to settle down soon before our next shift starts. I’ll be damned if me miss the next one.”

“Not that much will happen to the ship while we’re in the dock,” Bones muttered but Jim and Spock ignored him. To their surprise, Spock was just as amused as Jim was.

**

They found documents that they thought had been classified long ago. It was no surprise that the governments had kept quiet though.

Among those papers was the knowledge of an alternate universe where someone had found Atlantis and with those papers was the research of aliens and the DNA that showed the likelihood of Sentinel and Guides being less and less common on Earth while also giving a hint that they were alien to Earth.

“Why did they hide that knowledge?” Bones asked with a frown: “This Stargate Project never happened in this universe.”

“But it does not change the fact that some humans are not entirely from this Earth with the big question who the aliens were that came to Earth,” Spock said simply and then accessed some data packages he had been sent from Vulkan: “Here it is also mentioned that the Ancients are a race that built Atlantis and space ships and that those are beings of Energy much like –“

“Me,” a voice said and had a gun in his face a second later. Q looked from one to the other and shook his head: “You probably don’t know me but I am one of those Energy beings.”

Kirk didn’t lower his gun though but Q rolled his eyes: “My being here needs to remain a secret for another while.”

“Is that so,” Jim said dryly: “Care to explain why you’re here then.”

Q laughed and focused on Spock: “As a matter of fact, your heritage can be traced back to the first Sentinel and Guide on Earth. Once of mine to protect. I belong to a form of life that the other universe called Ancients. We were sworn not to interfere in the human lives but Sentinel and Guides aren’t exactly human. In a weird way, our fate is connected with yours. If Sentinels and Guides die out, we will, too.”

“But that wouldn’t explain why most pairs are homosexual pairings,” Spock said simply.

Q smiled and nodded: “Quite right but nature made it that only the Alpha Primes that protect Earth are not of male/female pairings simply because such a pair would focus their protection on their children instead of Earth. It is also not quite that bad that the dominant trait of DNA will be completely gone from Earth anytime soon. Merely a factor of not emerging without their Guide.”

“So this is not so unusual after all and we’re not the last pair?”

“No, Tucker and Reed were the last pair that had the DNA traits online and in a matter of breaking out. While other Sentinel and Guides were around, not strong enough ones for sustaining the leadership.” Q explained: “After Tucker and Reed were back on Earth after they were in space for a while, more Sentinels and Guides came back out but never found a match. We couldn’t interfer.”

“So you left them dying out and now we’re at a point where we are the last ones but not genetically extinct yet... What is your purpose then?” Bones asked with a frown and slightly pissed off now.

Q sighed: “We will try to convince you to do Sentinel and Guide DNA research across the universe to find matches and match them.”

“Gene manipulation and predicting pairings is what you want. You want us to meddle with the free will of partnerships.”

“Ah don’t be ridiculous. We all know that human engineered babies are being born. The DNA altered to match the eye color the parents wish or changing the sex.” Q said: “It is similar to that but with bringing forward the activation gene.”

“No,” Jim said: “That is not something we can do.”

“But-“ Q replied while Bones had already crossed his arms and Spock was stepping closer to Bones to back him up.

“No buts. We can’t just experiment on people like that. If we were to die out, well, so many other races died out on Earth, what is another?” Bones asked simply: “I may be persuaded to illegally look how many people on Earth still have the genetics but more than that, I won’t ever do.”

Q seemed to think that over: “That for now might be enough to see that the line isn’t dying out.”

“We will then destroy the research so no predictions can be made about who might come on as a Sentinel or Guide.”

“Agreed,” Q replied and a second later was gone.

“Well shit,” Bones sighed.

**

After they were back on their way with the ship now fully operational again, they quietly tried to spend as much time together as possible. While on the bridge, Spock was there to help Jim focus on his senses and not zone, Bones regularly met Jim for lunch or other consultants on the ship to have a reason to be around.

Meeting in Jim’s quarters after hours simply came from the fact that the man had the most space of them all and was lucky enough to have a big bed and enough seats to host them all. It was tricky not letting the crew know the fact that they were bonded –or in a relationship- of sorts.

They still hadn’t discussed the obvious attraction between them and Jim was certain that it was such an attraction. Bones and him were friends first but Jim had always thought there might be more to it than friendship but now that the emotional bond was there, it was a certainty. They just hadn’t thought to act on it yet. 

And Spock was a different matter altogether. While they were close and emotionally bonded, Jim didn’t get the vibe of the other man that he was interested in anything but a friendship to their bond. It was a tricky situation being bonded to two individuals and at the same time at that.

Making his way to his quarters this time, Jim was looking forward to their time off as well as the dread that came with talking about the research Bones was secretly doing. It was one thing to make a research, another to follow Q’s orders as such. But Bones’ ultimate goal was also to find the one race that might have come to earth in the early stages.

They were secretive about those tasks and while Jim disliked keeping secrets from his crew and what he considered friends, it was necessary. Especially with Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scotty. While they were joking and bantering around, the crew also knew when to follow the order and when it was simply too much friendship and not enough work.

Adding Spock and Bones to his quarters and entry code, Jim could feel Bones already in the room, having brought dinner for the three of them but Spock had still been working on the latest data they had from flying through a nebula. 

“Hey,” Jim said and greeted the other man with a smile: “Spock is still up there.” He had confirmed with his senses and then looked at the food: “Is this gonna keep?”

“We should talk,” Bones nodded and moved with Jim to sit on the couch under the window.

Jim knew where this was headed and wondered if it was wise not to include Spock in it. They were after all bonded together and that would mean he would know what was going on with them anyways. But talking privately was giving them more confidence to address this: “About us.”

“Yes,” Leonard replied: “I know that you have an empathic ability as well but not as strong as I do. Spock has no interest in a relationship outside of a romantic one but that might as well change with Pon Farr.”

“You know about Pon Farr?” Jim asked and frowned: “Only a few were ever allowed to know about it so far.”

“Yes, I know and have been informed due to the Vulcan we have on board,” McCoy replied dryly: “That doesn’t change the fact that we need to talk about us.”

Jim nodded: “I haven’t,” he sighed and took a deep breath: “I haven’t brought it up because of Spock.”

“But we are bonded as well and a Sentinel and a Guide. You need a stable bond to fully function and while Spock and I can help you with a partial bond, I finally read through Sandburg’s data and know that a sexual bond is better.”

“You know, that would explain why I didn’t want to let you out of my sight the first time I saw you. I wanted to crawl all over you and then pushed it down.” Jim admitted and looked at the other man: “I always wanted you.”

“Then why haven’t we fully bonded yet?” Bones asked rather rhetorical and moved in. Their emotions were running high and they realized that Spock knew what was going on, probably had already anticipated what would happen between them.

It didn’t take long for them to head to the bed, halfway undressed when they heard Spock enter the apartment. The offer was telltale but Spock shook his head, taking a seat and merely observing them, not needing to jump in.

Their bond pulsed between all three of them anyways.

**

Their research was done not too long after that. They were sitting together again, McCoy briefly brushed his fingers against Spock’s, then turned to look at Jim: “The genetic test is complete.”

“So, what is it?” Jim asked interested.

Bones looked at Jim: “We definitely don’t need to worry about dying out genetically. The Sentinel and Guide genome that had been identified by researchers in the twenty-first century is by now in every human on Earth but only if a recessive Sentinel and a dominate Guide trait meet in a genetic pool, will a Sentinel or Guide emerge. As a result, there should be enough Sentinel and Guides around as it is right now.”

“But they aren’t common knowledge,” Jim replied again. It was Spock that spoke up now: “We think that the low risk of crime is one result, the far removed living of the natural environments another as well as the possibility that there are pride packs around that just keep quiet and it is not known that they are online.”

“Good, that should simply be enough for the Q,” Jim nodded: “We won’t interfere but leave the data for the next known Sentinel and Guide Prime Pair around.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Bones agreed while Spock was confirming it: “We should also provide our personal log entries for the next pair.”

“Good idea but threesomes are rather the odd combination,” Bones said: “The reports I have available are confirming that only five percent are threesomes, of that three percent of two Guides and one Sentinel and of that only half that are entirely homosexual bonds.”

Kirk grinned at them: “As long as no one knows about us, I’m good.”

“What is fascinating,” Spock began: “is that my future self met with me and never mentioned a word of what was going on. I furthermore could not detect the mental shields that are telltale for a Guide.”

“Who says that I would have come online in the other timeline?” Jim asked: “You exiled me on a planet that likely brought me online. If that never happened and I never had a reason to come online, that could be a reason. I was pretty close to a whole planet of Vulkans dying that could have been enough for my mental abilities to be triggered.”

Jim stood then and laid down on their bed: “Time for Captains to head to bed and demand that his Guides are following to get some rest before the mission tomorrow.”

Seeing the matter settled, they laid down to sleep.

the End


End file.
